Pitter Patter
by emjay79
Summary: Two young children arrive in Dodge and it is up to Matt, Kitty, Festus, and Doc to find them a permanent home. An adaptation of sorts of Little Girl, Baker's Dozen, and The Foundling, all in one.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1, Reminisces

Kate Donovan wondered how her life had gotten to this point. She knew how, of course,-after all she had been there as it happened, but wondered why exactly she had let it come to be.

Of a naturally optimistic and cheerful nature, she wasn't a woman who looked back very often. She preferred to focus on the here and now, not some distant yesterday beyond her ability to change, and not on some unforeseen future. That characteristic, living for the here-and-now, probably had a bit to do with her present situation.

She glanced around the shack, a lean-to made up of weather beaten boards with cracks that not only could you see the day light through, but that you could also get wet from rain and cold from wind and snow. The dirt floor was damp and chilly and the creatures that crawled across it were not exactly welcomed inhabitants. The one window let in plenty of light, however, now that the oiled paper that served for a pane had peeled and cracked and blown away in last night's storm.

Worst of all was the little stove on the side, that did little to keep the family warm, but constantly belched grey smoke into the little shack so that there was always an asthmatic cough and a sting in her dry, blood shot eyes.

Such a contrast to anywhere she'd ever lived before. Born in Boston to a pair of Irish house servants her life had not had much power or wealth of her own, but the little house behind the Grand manse had at least been clean, warm, and comfortable. And her belly had always been full. She was lucky, she knew that. None of the other Irish she knew had had it so good. Her father was the driver for the Hallen family, and he was a jolly, amicable man who was generally liked wherever he went, and who took his duty in care for the horses and the fine carriages seriously, and his employers found him indispensable.

Her mother had been the household supervisor second only to Mrs. Hallen herself, and she ran things with a remarkable warmth and efficiency. She was a robust, rosy cheeked woman, forever singing a soft, wistful tune, and she had a fine lilting voice to aid her in her work. She smiled easily, could handle multiple tasks at once, and proved herself as valuable as her husband in ensuring the smooth goings on of the family.

Thus Patrick and Bridie O'Roarke gave their wee young daughter a happy childhood. Katie had been a good child, well-liked by the owners of the house and had been permitted to sit in the library when the Governess told of Greek and Roman heroes, gods and goddesses, Knights and their ladies, and boys who rubbed magic lamps with genies inside. Her job was to daily sweep and dust over the library, and she made it a point to be done by the story—later called the literature-hour. She had passed the hours dreaming that her broom handle was some tall prince come to slay a dragon and carry her away to his castle in the clouds. At night she lay awake trembling deliciously in terror as her father related tales of banshees and leprechauns and faerie queens who rode winged horses among the stars in the sky. Needless to say, Kate had always been a bit of a dreamer.

When she was eighteen, she accompanied young Miss Jane Hallen to St. Louis, where she relocated with her new husband Geoff Keller. She was to assume the position in their household that her mother held in Boston, and she did so with vigor and enthusiasm, seeing St. Louis as an exciting adventure and all over grand time. It had been, while it lasted. Mr. Keller began to take not a little fancy to his pretty strawberry blond housekeeper, forever commenting upon the blush of her cheeks and the roundness of her bosom. He waited for her everywhere, and for all her appeals to the Blessed Virgin, he did not stop in his pursuit. Kate, having always been fond of Jane, had resigned her position and took up cleaning and cooking on the riverboats of the Mississippi.

She enjoyed her time on the riverboats, as well. There she saw women in beautiful dresses fanning themselves as they sat on the laps of men throwing dice and smoking cigars. It was all very exciting and new, and she constantly occupied her mind with little fantasies of these dashing men and their beautifully painted up ladies, and she did not mind her work much.

She made friends with one such lady, a tall girl from New Orleans, named Kitty Russell. Kitty was new to the riverboats but not to gambling and men and she was the foremost dealer on board. She had come with a man named

Cole Yankton, as his guest. She had told Kate happily that they were going to be married soon, and Kate had hoped so, due to the delicate nature of their association. She found Kitty crying on deck alone one rainy morning when the pretty redhead had woke to find herself alone, all her money-what little she'd had-gone. But Kitty was resilient and finding herself unable to pay her fare when the boat docked again in New Orleans, she took a job on board as a dealer and general decoration and she roomed with Kate.

The two became great friends and it had been Kitty who had convinced her to leave the Mississippi.

"I can't take it anymore. I'm going west."

"Where?" Kate had asked her.

"I don't know. I'm going to go until my money runs out. Eventually San Francisco. But I do know one thing; I can't stay on this damned river boat a day longer."

Kate had gone with her. She couldn't afford the fare back to Boston, and she had no other close friend. They got as far as Abilene. She had wanted to work in the saloon with Kitty, but Kitty would have none of it. No woman would work there if she could help it, Kitty said. It was all she knew. So Kitty entertained the men at night in the local water hole, and Kate scrubbed the floors and worked in the only restaurant in town.

It was in Abilene that she had met Jack. He was in town drinking off a months' pay and he had stumbled into the café early one morning for black coffee when she was opening up. He was rather handsome and charming when he was sober, which he was that day, having run out of money. She being one of only a dozen or so women in town and one of the five who didn't work in the saloon, he gave her quite a bit of attention. She married him. And it went downhill from there.

Kitty moved on again. This time she went North, hoping to eventually get to San Francisco, but Kate had heard from one of the cowboys that he'd seen her living in a town called Dodge City, in Kansas. Jack had been out of work since the day after the wedding, and he spent her meager wages drinking away his desire to go out and find a job.

Kate began to foresee her miserable existence with Jack Donovan. She would have left, moved on and made her own way as before, and was planning to do just that—when a case of morning sickness and a fainting spell one Sunday during mass at the mission had confirmed her suspicions and bound her to this poor excuse for a man forever. Little Thomas was born that fall, and things improved for a time. Jack, feeling a shallow responsibility as a father took a job on a local ranch, and the family was fed for some time until he realized that it would be of advantage to him to retire and Kate to go to doing people's laundry.

Tom grew into a fine, strong, boy. She had a letter sent to her parents in Boston, but never let on about her situation. She knew they would have sent her the money to join them, but she couldn't face the Hallen family who were still curious to know the true reason she had quit their daughter, and her parents were getting on in age and needed their money. So Kate took in laundry. And mending. And whatever else might bring in a dollar or two.

She miscarried in June. Jack felt a bit of guilt and took a job once again, only to lose it three months later. The following year, she gave birth to Isabelle, named after a queen she had heard about in one of Jane's history lessons back in Boston. Her daughter would need all the help she could get.

She amused her young children by telling them wonderful stories as she washed. They played beside her on the river bank while listening to tales of princesses who slept for a hundred years, of beautiful girls locked in towers with long golden braids, and of magical beans that grew stalks into the clouds and led to giants' castles and geese who laid golden eggs. And so her children were not disillusioned with life as Kate might have been, and they provided the only joy of her existence.

In a fleeting ambitious moment Jack had taken a small homestead in South Western Kansas. He had moved the family there, to a dismally dry and cracked land, where the heat baked down upon you by day, and a stinging wind whipped you and threw dust in your eyes. But Dodge was the nearest town, though it was a good day's ride away, and Kate longed for the day when they might go into town for supplies and she might find Kitty again.

Weeks passed, and there was no money for supplies and therefore no reason to go to Dodge that Jack could see. He, however, spent many a night drinking the last of Kate's savings at a little watering hole set up at a crossroads about 12 miles east.

Kate took the mule down for watering one morning and saw her reflection in the pool. It was the first time she had seen herself in perhaps a year. She gasped at the stranger looking back at her. The red gold hair that had once bounced freely about her shoulders and face was dim and limp now, and she had grown thin and sallow. Only her eyes looked the same. Those wonderfully blue, sparkling eyes that still held a flicker of her old self.

Shading her eyes against the sun, she caught site of her children, playing in the yard with a tumbleweed blowing in the breeze around them. She couldn't allow her children to go on in this manner. Tom ought to be in school, he was a bright boy, who was a bit too taciturn and reserved in Kate's opinion. Isabelle was a sweet, unassumingly affectionate child; she had a quick smile and forgiving heart, much like her mother. Neither child had been to mass in months. She was failing them as a mother.

She resolved some days later to go to Dodge. She would take the children; maybe Kitty could help her find a small room and some small job to do, that is if Kitty weren't in San Francisco by now. Kate smiled wistfully, Kitty wasn't one to let anyone stand in the way of her plans, she thought.

She gathered her shawl more tightly around her shoulders. She was cold all the time these days, even in the warm afternoon sun. She called to the children to come into dinner. They had corn meal mush, and not very much of it. Kate told them she would eat when their father came in from town, and gave them each half her portion. She went over into the corner where she patched a pair of Tom's trousers again, and resolved to leave with her children for Dodge just as soon as Jack got back and she could get the few coins he had left in the pocket of his coat when he fell into his drunken sleep.

He did not come back. Two weeks past. She had realized any money he might have had would be gone anyway, but it was a faint concern for him that she still waited. Day after day. But the corn meal ran out and she had nothing left to feed the children—maybe one day's worth. They would leave for Dodge in the morning. She pressed a handkerchief to her mouth as a cough racked her body. She was not alarmed to find bright red blood when she drew it away from her mouth. Why be alarmed? There was nothing she could do.

She gathered the children into bed with her at sundown, and told them of a wonderful adventure they were going to have, they were going to take the mule, and go to Dodge City. A wonderful place where her good friend Miss Kitty Russell lived and would help their mother find a job and soon they would have a house with no leaks, and they could go to school and play with other children. They fell asleep in their mother's arms, dreaming of a beautiful kingdom called Dodge City.

So that was how the irrepressible Kate Donovan had come to where she was, lying cold and ill in a lean-to in the middle of the Kansas prairie, abandoned by a drunken husband, thinking about all the events in her life that had led her to this point. There had been many, many more of course, but these were the memories that she ran through her mind. She fell asleep with her children lovingly wrapped in her arms and in equal captivation of the hope of leaving and starting a new life in Dodge City at daylight the next morning.

She would not wake up.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2, The Quest for Dodge City

Matt Dillon jerked up right in the saddle. He had almost drifted off to sleep, the smooth and rhythmic lope of his big gelding lulling him into a well needed rest. A rest he could not well afford. He had been riding for three days, only catching a few hours fitful sleep here and there to rest Buck. He had testified at a murder trial in Ellsworth, stayed for the hanging, and now couldn't wait to be back in Dodge. He longed for a soak in Kitty's oversized tub, a hot meal, and a night in her warm feather bed.

Hangings were hard on the Marshal. It reminded him of the brutality of his job, the brutality sometimes necessary in the name of justice. It reminded him of the choices these men had made and the actions that had led them to the gallows. The uselessness of it all. He pushed the buckskin a little harder, wanting to get back to Dodge as soon as possible. He blinked hard in the sunlight, unsure of what he was seeing. Two children, seated in the high grass just off the road up ahead. How did they end up here? he wondered. They were miles from anywhere, miles from any homestead he knew of. A boney bay mule was grazing nearby. He slowed Buck to a walk, and headed for them. They looked frightened, but didn't move.

"Everything all right?" he asked gently, though he could see that it wasn't. The little girl had tear streaks down her dirty face and she was clutching to a boy whose pale face twisted in pain, his arm bent at a strange angle. The little girl stared down at the ground and said nothing.

The little boy looked up at him with a look of forced brevity and stuttered haltingly, "Do y-you know the way to Dodge City, mister?"

Matt swung slowly from the saddle as not to alarm them further. "What happened to your arm, son?"

"I tripped in a prairie dog hole, and my arm went under me kinda funny. I think I broke it." He winced and sucked in a sharp breath as Matt gently reached for the misshapen limb.

"It's broken all right. We gotta get you to see a Doctor. Where's your home son, I can take you back and go fetch the Doctor in Dodge City."

"We're on our way to Dodge, sir. We got lost somehow."

"How come you're headed to Dodge? Are you alone?"

With that the little girl buried her head in her brother's side and began to sob. "Our Ma's dead, sir," he said quietly. "We started out for Dodge yesterday morning."

"You've been walking this road since yesterday morning?" Matt said incredulously. "When did you have your fall?"

"Today sir." His face was pale and beaded with perspiration. He looked like he might pass out at any moment.

"This your mule, son?" The little boy nodded. "What's your name?"

"Tommy Donovan, sir. This is my sister, Isabelle. That's ol' Clover, there."

"Tommy, I'm the Marshal of Dodge City, Matt Dillon." When the little boy looked at him blankly, he said, "That's like a constable or a sheriff. I'm going to help you get into Dodge, to see the Doctor. Do you think you can stand to sit on your mule?" Tommy nodded weakly.

"Okay. First I'm going to need to wrap your arm up so that it doesn't bounce around on you while we're riding. That's very important, but it's going to hurt pretty bad when I wrap it. Okay?"

"Yes sir."

Matt took a roll of bandages from his saddle bag. He knew the arm needed to be set, but the break was bad, and he knew Doc needed to look at it. He fashioned a crude sling from the bandages and managed to immobilize the arm. The little boy leaned over and retched from the pain, but he did not cry out. Matt was both moved and impressed by his courage. The little girl shrank from him as he tried to pick her up to lift her onto the back of the mule. "It's okay, Isabelle," he said softly. "I just need to get you and Tommy onto Clover so we can go into Dodge and see the Doctor. We need to get Tommy's arm fixed. I'm not going to hurt you." She looked timidly up at her brother and he managed a weak smile and nodded. She allowed the Marshal to lift her and place her gently onto Clover's back. Then, as carefully as he could, he helped Tommy into the saddle. Grabbing the mule's reins he led him slowly over to Buck and swung into the saddle himself. It would be a long, slow ride back to Dodge.

Kitty Russell was perusing her log books and sipping a scalding cup of black coffee when the doors of the Long Branch swung open and Deputy Festus Haggen burst through them. "Beggin' yer pardon, Miss Kitty, but ol' Doc says he needs you to come up to his office straight away. He needs yore help."

Kitty's stomach lurched. "Matt! He should've been back by now—"

"No'em, it ain't Matthew. It's these here two young'uns. Boy and a little girl, and Doc needs you to come up directly and set with'em."

"Sam?" She looked over at the barkeep who was drying glasses behind the bar and he nodded at her.

"I'll look after things, Miss Kitty."

She set her coffee down on the table and followed after Festus.

"Matthew done brang these young'uns in this mornin', and the little boys went and broke his arm, and Doc's wantin' you to come up and—"

"Kitty!"

She turned to see Matt striding toward her, and she sent up a silent thank you that he had once again returned to Dodge safely. "Matt, what happened?" she asked as he caught up with the two of them.

"I was riding back from Ellsworth, and I came across these two children, Tommy and Isabelle Donovan. The little boy told me their mother died in the night and he took his sister and their mule and set out for Dodge. He said their mother knew you, and that they were supposed to find you."

"Donovan…Donovan…It sounds familiar, Matt, but I can't place it. Did they tell you her first name?"

"Kate. Kate Donovan."

Kitty gasped. "Kate Donovan…," she breathed. "I knew her, Matt. We worked on the river boats together, and she went to Abilene with me when I left…she married some no account drunk…." She shook her head in shock. "I had no idea she was in Kansas, Matt, or that she knew that I was in Kansas for that matter. I haven't seen Katie in ten years, and now she's dead…"her eyes clouded with a mist of tears.

When they opened the door to Doc's office Kitty saw that there was a little boy asleep on the operating table and a little girl huddled very close to him. Kitty took in her ragged dress and dirty, tear-streaked face. She was staring at Kitty in awe, her little mouth hanging open.

Doc chuckled and pulled at his mustache. "Kitty, I'm glad to see you. Miss Kitty, this young lad here is Tommy, but I've given him something to help him sleep. And this little lady here, is Isabelle. Isabelle, this is Miss Kitty."

Isabelle gazed up at Kitty's ruby colored satin dress and the rhinestones glittering at her throat. Her red curls were already piled high onto her head for the day's work. "Are you a faerie queen?" the little girl breathed. Doc, Matt and Festus grinned.

Kitty laughed. "No, I'm no queen of any kind, I'm afraid. But I'm very glad to meet you, Isabelle."

"But you are so beautiful," she said. "Mama told us about faeries and queens…" and then she began to cry again. Kitty walked over to the little girl and put her arm around her.

"I knew your Mama, Isabelle," Kitty said softly. "She was my friend."

"Mama said so. She said we were going to Dodge to find you, but she went to sleep, and then she didn't wake up, and Tommy said we had to go by ourselves, and now Tommy's asleep…" and she began to sob convulsively. Kitty sat in a chair and pulled the little girl into her lap.

"Tommy is going to be okay, honey. Doc gave him medicine that will help him get well, but he has to get some sleep so that he can. He'll wake up again real soon." She looked up at Doc for help.

"That's right honey. He's going to be okay. You sit here with Miss Kitty for a few minutes while the Marshal and I talk about some things, okay?"

She gulped, and nodded. Kitty rocked her slowly in her arms, holding her tightly.

When Doc returned, he motioned for her to come to the door. "Stay here, honey, I'll be right back." She patted the frightened child soothingly, and went to the door. "Doc?"

"Kitty, Matt and Festus are going to ride back to the farm and see to Mrs. Donovan. I'd like to go with them and examine her to make sure she didn't die of cholera or typhoid. We'll be back this evening. Can you sit with the children until then? Isabelle seems to trust you."

"Of course, Doc. Stop by Delmonico's on your way, if you will, and have some soup and apple pie sent up for the kids. I'll look after them."

"Thank you, Kitty."

As the hours passed, Kitty occupied herself with checking Tommy for fevers, and making sure his splint and wrap was straight and dry. Isabelle had fallen asleep in the chair, and Kitty had covered her little body with a quilt. She wondered at the children's tattered clothing. Isabelle's thin brown dress, dirty and torn, no shoes. Tommy's patched britches, the hem several inches over his ankles. Both children had brown hair, or at least Kitty thought it was brown, it was hard to tell from the dirt caked into it. Isabelle's eyes were a coffee brown. She was a slight child, and both looked woefully underfed. When Tommy awoke, he was groggy, but quickly became alert when he realized it was none other than his mother's friend, Miss Kitty Russell, who had seemed to have found them.

Kitty smiled as he ate three bowls of beef stew and an entire apple pie. Isabelle ate only a little, though Kitty knew she must be starving. "How long has it been since you had anything to eat?"

"Since we left, Miss Kitty. I mixed water with the rest of the corn meal and we ate it cold. Then we left to come to Dodge. Ma told us we were all going but then she didn't wake up. I waited a long time, but she never did." He said this very matter of factly, and Kitty knew he was trying to put on a brave face.

"You are a very brave young man, Tommy. Setting off alone, and looking after your sister the way you did."

Tommy beamed at her. "I pretended I was a knight, like Sir Lancelot. Mama used to tell us about him. I was scared, but I knew he wouldn't be. So I just pretended like I was him and me and Isabelle and Clover was on a quest."

Kitty smiled. "A quest for Dodge City."

"Yes ma'am. But then I fell off Clover and into that prairie dog hole and hurt my arm. I'm glad the Marshal found us. Isabelle was scared," he said solemnly.

"Well, I don't think Sir Lancelot could have been any braver." She turned towards the door when she heard Doc's familiar footsteps coming up the steps to the office.

"How's our patient, Kitty?" he asked as he came in, placing his hat and bag on the desk.

"Why don't you ask him yourself, Doc?" Kitty said gesturing with her chin toward the bed.

"Well, by golly! Tommy! How's that arm, son?" He looked relieved to see him sitting up.

"Better, thank you, sir. Miss Kitty gave me some apple pie."

"He ate a whole pie, Doc."

Doc smiled. "Good, that's real good. A couple more apple pies and you'll be good as new, I'm thinking." He turned toward the chair in the corner as he saw Isabelle stir.

"Kitty, I think Tommy needs to stay in the office tonight. I'm worried he might develop a fever from the trauma. Why don't you take Isabelle over to Ma Smalley's and see if she has a bed?"

Isabelle leaped up and buried her face into Kitty's skirts. "I think I'll take Isabelle up to my room tonight, Doc."

Doc pulled at his chin. "All right, Kitty." He turned to his patient on the table. "Tommy, are you okay staying the night here with me?"

"Yes sir." But his eyes looked frightened.

"Isabelle and I will come by in the morning and take you for a big breakfast, Tommy." Kitty said. The little boys eyes lit up and he smiled.

Back in her room at the Long Branch, Kitty drew a hot bath for Isabelle. She filled it with soaps that made it bubble and helped the little girl out of her filthy, ragged dress. The little girl stared in amazement at the opulent furnishings in Kitty's bed chamber. Kitty helped her in the tub and she seemed to relax. She giggled at the bubbles. "It smells good in here," she said. "Are you sure you're not a queen?"

Kitty smiled. "I'm quite sure. But I'm glad you like it here."

Isabelle played in the foamy bubbles for a while, and then Kitty washed and combed her hair. She was surprised to find that her hair was the color of honey once it was clean. She dressed her in a clean cotton shift that hung on her small frame like a loose sheet.

She turned the bed down in the room adjoining hers, and piled some extra blankets on top. Tucking her in, she felt tears come to her eyes when the little girl whispered tentatively, "will you stay here with me, Miss Kitty?"

"Yes, honey, I will. I'll sit here until you fall asleep, and even then I won't be far away, okay?"

The little girl smiled. "Okay. Miss Kitty?"

"Yes?"

"What is going to happen to us? To Tommy and me?"

"I'm not sure, sweetie," Kitty said honestly.

"Can we live here with you?"

Kitty's heart tore a little. "I don't think you would want to live here with me." She took a deep breath, her heart going out to this lost little child. "I do know that everything is going to be okay."

"How do you know?"

"I know."

"But my Mama has gone to Heaven."

Kitty took her small hand in hers. "When I was a little girl about your age, my Mama went to Heaven, too."

"Were you afraid?"

"Yes, I was very afraid. And I missed her so much." I still miss her, Kitty thought.

"Who took care of you?"

Kitty felt a long hidden pain rise up. Nobody she thought. Nobody, for a while. Until Pan took her in. Kitty Russell had taken care of herself for a long time. "A nice lady named Panacea took me in and let me live with her for a while."

"Panacea? That's a funny name. Was she nice?"

"She was very nice."

"Did she let your brothers and sisters live with her too?" At this, Isabelle looked very concerned.

"I didn't have any brothers or sisters." The little girl sat up in bed and wrapped her arms around Kitty's waist in a tight hug.

"You were all alone," she said sadly. "I have Tommy still."

I was all alone, Kitty thought. Until I came to Dodge and got my little adopted family. "Will Tommy and me be able to live together? What if somebody doesn't want a girl? People don't always like girls."

"Who doesn't like girls?"

"People. My daddy didn't really like girls. He wanted boys like Tommy. To work on our farm and make us money."

"You and Tommy will stay together. I promise."

Kitty saw the trust in the little girl's eyes, and knew that somehow, come hell or high water, she would keep that promise.

"Miss Kitty? Will you tell me a story?"

"A story?" Kitty asked, caught off guard.

"Mama always told us stories so we could go to sleep and have good dreams."

Kitty closed her eyes and thought for a moment. Way back. "How about I tell you a story that my mother used to tell me?"

"I would like that."

And so Kitty began, "Once upon a time, there was an old Cajun named Amos, who lived in a dark swamp filled with alligators and snakes. He had a beautiful daughter named Adalia, that he kept shut up in his shack. All around the parish people had heard of Adalia's great beauty, but no one had ever seen her, for old Amos was a crafty man, and kept her closely guarded…"

Not long after the story was finished, Isabelle had drifted off to sleep and Kitty quietly slipped out of the room and closed the door. She made her way down the stairs to the bar and spotted Matt sitting in the corner with Thad and Festus. She joined them and called to Sam, "Sam, a beer please?"

"Sure thing, Miss Kitty."

"How's that little girl doing, Miz Kitty?"

"She's sleeping now, Festus, but she's had a rough day. She's scared to death and missing her mother, but I think she's coming around." She placed her hand on Matt's arm. "Sure am glad you happened upon them Matt."

"By golly, so am I, Kitty."

Thad looked up from his beer. "Did you find the house, Matt?"

"It was a lean-to shack, and it was leaning," Matt said. "We buried her after Doc determined her cause of death."

"Matt?" Kitty asked.

"Consumption, Kitty, best he could tell. He wanted to make sure it wasn't a cholera outbreak or anything in case we needed to quarantine the kids."

"What's gonna happen to them young'uns, Matthew?"

"Well Festus, we're going to try and find out if they have any family anywhere. Tommy said his father left a few weeks back and never returned. He may be dead somewhere, or—"

"—More likely he's lying passed out drunk in some bar," Kitty interjected.

"Kitty, you said you knew Kate Sullivan? What do you know about her, where is she from, does she have any other family?"

"Matt, I haven't heard from or seen Kate in better than ten years. She married up with Jack Sullivan and I drifted on, and a couple towns later I ended up in Dodge. She was from Boston, originally, and came to St. Louis as a maid or something. Anyway, that didn't work out so she ended up cleaning and cooking on the riverboat I worked on at the time. That's all I know."

"What about her husband, Jack Donovan. What do you know about him?"

"He was a drunken cowboy, Matt. That's all. I told her he was no good. She met him in Abilene. I knew him from the saloon I was working in. He ran out of money and stayed sober for a few days, and that's when he met Kate and married her. That's all I know."

"We found a few of her possessions, a bible, some books. That was it. No names or addresses. Do you remember her maiden name?"

Kitty thought for a moment. "O'Roarke. Katie O'Roarke. Her given name was Kathleen, too. Like mine."

"I guess I'll send a wire to Boston and see what I can find out. I don't expect much luck, though; I'll be honest with you. Boston's a mighty big place. I guess if we don't find any relatives, they'll be sent to the state orphanage."

"NO!" Kitty said vehemently. "They won't go to an orphanage. Those places are horrible."

The three men looked up at her in mild surprise. "Kitty, what can we do? They can't stay here."

Kitty looked into his eyes and held them. "No orphanage, Matt."

He drank his beer in silence, not wanting to argue the point with Thad and Festus around. Kitty was grateful for this, not wanting to have to explain her reasoning to the other men.

Later, when making his rounds he stopped by to see her as she was closing up. "Night cap, cowboy?"

"Right on the money, as usual, Red." He studied her quizzically as she poured them each a drink. He knew she had once known Tommy and Isabelle's mother, but the kids' presence seemed to be affecting her more than he would have thought. "Kitty, you know those kids may have to go to a—a home somewhere."

"I know, Matt, but not an orphan's home. I can't let that happen. We'll find them a good home with someone, or…"

"Or what? Kitty, they can't stay here."

"Why not, Matt? Because it's a saloon?" He could feel her anger rising.

"No, that's not what I meant. Kitty, you have a business to run. I know their mother was a friend of yours, but you aren't responsible."

"It doesn't have anything to do with Kate. Yes, she was a friend of mine, but it isn't that." She dropped her eyes and stared into her glass of whiskey.

"Then what is it, Kit?" He took her hand in his.

"Matt, Isabelle is six years old. Tommy is nine. I was seven when my mother died. Seven years old. My father ran out on me, too. My grandparents didn't want me. I reminded them of my no good gambler of a father that they forbade my mother to marry in the first place. They blamed me for losing her, somehow. They sent me to that girl's school in New Orleans to get rid of me, because they didn't want me. My mother would have never sent me away. I never got to go home for holidays, Matt. They didn't want me. I spent Christmas with the sisters alone. Alone at the school. In the summer I read in my room or wandered the streets. Sometimes I got to go home with Lucy, and her family. But I didn't belong. I was just a child whose mother had died and no one wanted."

"Kitty…"

Kitty continued. "Then the war broke out, and when it started looking bad in Louisiana, the school closed. The girls were sent home. Sister Thomas Mary wrote to my grandfather to come and get me, but he never did. They never even replied. Maybe they never got the letter, maybe they were dead. But they never came. I was sent to the orphan's asylum in New Orleans."

"You never told me about being in the orphanage."

"I wasn't there very long. I ran away after only a couple of weeks, and was living on the streets in the French Quarter when Panacea found me. She was entertaining a union soldier during the occupation and she found me asleep and half-starved behind a couple of bushes in the alley between her gambling house and another, well, bordello. She took me in. I know that a saloon wasn't a proper place for a young lady, but Pan cared about me. She took care of me. Who knows what would have happened if she hadn't?" She was crying softly now, silent tears rolling down her cheeks.

Matt scooted over in his chair and put his arms around her. She had told him about her childhood before, but he hadn't known the details. He knew about Panacea, of course, he had met her, but she had never told him these things. He knew it must be very painful for her to remember, much less to talk about. "Okay, Kitty, no orphanage. What do you want to do?"

"They can stay here with me until we find a family for them. If we don't, well, I'll work something out."

Matt had been orphaned at a young age, too. He and his brother had been lucky enough to be taken in by a kind family for a few years until they were old enough to leave and fend for themselves. He guessed maybe he could see himself in Thomas, a young boy, scared, alone trying to be brave and stoic for his younger sibling. "I'll send wires to Boston and St. Louis in the morning, see what we can find out. We'll wait on it a week or so. Then we'll take it from there."

Kitty lifted her face and kissed him. "Staying tonight, cowboy?" Her eyes twinkling.

"Maybe not the entire night, Kit. You have a houseguest, remember?"

Her eyebrows raised, "have you ever stayed an entire night?" she asked mischievously, referring to his very early morning departures to avoid gossip.

"Not sure I could handle an entire night with you, Kitty. I've gotta sleep sometime, ya know." He winked at her, and together they rose and ascended the stairs to her bedroom. She paused for a moment and they quietly looked in on Isabelle, looking like a tiny doll in the middle of the big, oversized bed. His heart swelled a little with pride as he realized not for the first time, that his woman had the biggest heart in Kansas, if not in the nation.


End file.
